Jane Shepard
by MelodiDam
Summary: This tells the story of the Shepard. Her life was full of trials and hardships. But she saved the Galaxy from devastation and we are all better off for her having lived. There is a reason this story is rated M - there will be torture and other triggers. So consider yourself warned. I do not own this story, I just play with BioWare's toys.
1. A Dark Begining

In the undercity of Arcadia, a large megatropolis on the continent of North America, a short human male of Latino descent was sitting at his desk and surveying the two bipeds in front of him. One was a tan colored Batarian, with four eyes that stared at the black haired human and nose flaps that flared every so often. The other was a maroon Salarian with white face markings. He stood off to the side and would scratch one of his horns nervously every so often.

"Now, do we have a deal?" Helori Kavan, the human, asked.

Kacress Dhac'kadrak, the Batarian, leaned back and crossed his arms, "You humans have just fought a war with the Turians and you are asking us if we have a _deal_? _You_ are the newcomers to this galaxy, why should we help you?"

"You are not helping the humans, Dhac'kadrak." Enorth Zaerix, the Salarian, said turning to his Batarian combatant. "You are providing protection for me and anyone else who is working on this project."

"I will be supplying my own men. They do not know they are working for the Red's, nor do I want them to know." Kavan glared at the two aliens. "The Red's shouldn't even be mentioned at all for this project."

Dhac'kadrak returned the human's glare. "I am in charge then?"

"In a matter of speaking." The Latino smirked.

"Speak plainly human!" the Batarian bellowed as he slammed his gloved hand down on the desk. Not only did the black haired human dare to sit while he left him to stand. The human was now taunting him!

"You and Zaerix will coordinate and report to me. At a designated time, we will storm the warehouse and procure the goods." At the aliens' grumbling, Kavan raised his hand to forestall any comments. "I will warn you two beforehand. You will have ample time to get away."

This answer seemed to satisfy the Batarian, who just shrugged.

"Do we have the specimen?" Zaerix inquired.

"No, not yet," Kavan sighed, "I am working on procuring one. However, the warehouse is all set up and staffed. Why don't you two go acquaint yourselves with the equipment and I will be by as soon as I find the specimen."

That statement caused the Batarian to laugh as he asked, "You? You're going to find what we need?"

"Yes. You see, I can be quite… persuasive." The human smirked.

"Fine. Whatever." Dhac'kadrak shrugged, grabbing the Salarian by the shoulder as he headed out, "Let's go Enorth, we have a lab to get you to."

As soon as his new business associates had left, Kavan pressed a button beneath his desk. "Daniel, I need to speak with you immediately." Without waiting for a reply, he signed off.

Less than five minutes later, a young, tall man walked into the boss' office. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." Kavan drawled, "Do we have any candidates?"

Daniel Cador opened up his omni tool. "We have a young lady, about sixteen years old and a month pregnant."

"Is she in any way connected to the community?" Kavan sighed as he leaned back and steepled his fingers under his chin.

"Uh, yes, she is. Let's see." The second in command scrolled through the database. "Oh, here we go. A fourteen year old girl goes by the name Cecila. She is about three weeks pregnant, both of her parents died during The First Contact War and she has no support or family to speak of."

"Is there any mention of a father?" the leader of the Tenth Street Red's asked, not wanting to get his hopes up.

"No, sir, and I doubt she knows who the father is." Cador paused, "She's a prostitute."

"Good, then no one will miss her when she disappears." Kavan stood from his desk. "Where does she sell her wears?"

Cador scrolled further. "Down by the junction where the undercity meets the slums."

"Go get Gavin and meet me by the exit in ten minutes."

The three gang members traveled unmolested through the undercity on their way toward the slums, a feat unattainable by most. But since Kado Gaven was with them, it wasn't a surprise. After all, Gaven was not a small man by any stretch of the imagination. Standing at six-foot seven inches, and weighing in at two hundred and seventy five pounds of pure muscle, it was made apparent that this was not a man to cross.

As the trio approached the junction, Cador slowed down. "She should be around here somewhere." Glancing around, he spotted their intended target and quickly pointed her out to the others, "Ah, there she is."

Cador's finger was aimed straight at a lithe girl, with matted brown hair and dull grey eyes. She didn't appear to have any life in her.

As Kavan approached her, she seemed to perk up. "Wha' can I do fo' ya?"

Kavan tried not to show his disgust at her dialect. Low terran: the same dialect spoken by most of his gang members. "You can come with me."

"Ach, I don thin' so." She waggled her finger at him. "'Ow 'bout you an' yo' two friends come over 'ere an' we 'ave sum fun?"

"You should listen to me, because my offer has you off the streets and no longer whoring yourself to any man that glances in your direction." Kavan growled.

"Eh! I get by jus' fine!"

Cador decided that now would be a good time to step in. "What my boss is trying to say is that you might fare better under Tenth Street Red's protection."

"Wa' do tha Tenth Street Red's want wif me?" Cecila asked slowly backing away; she failed to notice that her only escape route was blocked by Gavin.

"Nothing, however, we do want your baby." Kavan shrugged.

Cecila laughed, "Yo can't 'ave it yet. It ain't come out yet."

"We know!" Kavan snapped, "We still need you to come with us."

"An' if I don't?" Cecila crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back cockily.

"Gavin, over there will make you." Codar jerked his head to where the enforcer was grinning.

Cecila hung her head in defeat, "Fine, wa' do I need tuh do?"

"Follow us and no dilly dallying." The head of the Tenth Street Red's smirked as they headed further into the undercity. He would have his perfect soldier yet.

Kavan led them into a dilapidated looking building. "This is where the project is going to take place. I am going to introduce you to the two people who are in charge."

After climbing multiple flights of stairs, they finally reached their destination.

"Dhac'kadrak! Zaerix!" Kavan yelled as he banged the door open. "I found her."

"You said you were bringing an infant." The Salarian scientist crossed his arms. "The procedures I have planned will not work on her."

"She's pregnant. As in with child. Isn't that what you said would be best?" Kavan growled.

"Oh! That would be best. Can start experiment now!" Zaerix continued rambling as he turned back to his notes.

"Oi! Ya dinna say nothin' bout me being sperimented on!" Cecila snapped crossing her arms.

The Batarian bared his teeth. "They didn't, eh? Well that's alright, either you cooperate or I make ya!"

The young girl gulped, it seemed she had no choice.

"Well, we will leave you two fine gentlemen to it." Kavan clapped his hands together. "Codar! Gavin! We're leaving!"

"Zaerix how long until you are ready to start the experiments?" the Batarian grumbled as he kept a keen eye on the human female.

"Not long. Not long at all." Zaerix happily stated. "I just have to make a few adjustments to the Element Zero chamber and we should be good."

Cecila furrowed her brow, but didn't say anything. She knew that they would ignore her, just like everybody else. Maybe after this was over she could go live in the slums and work in a bar, but she didn't have much hope. In the dark part of Arcadia hope was destroyed.

Over the next eight months the Salarian and his human scientists did hundreds of experiments on the fetus.

When the due date approached, Zaerix sent the following message to Kavan:

_Dear Helori Kavan, _

_The mother will survive until the child is born. But since the experiments we have been subjecting her and the fetus to have nearly killed her, I have promised the men that as soon as the baby is born they can have their way with Cecila. On the subject of the human female, she appears to have become attached to the child as it grows in her womb. She has even named it, unless you tell me otherwise, I will keep the name she has given it. _

_Your faithful servant, _

_Enorth Zaerix_

When the Kavan got the message he sighed and shook his head. Salarians knew nothing! Of course she was getting attached; she was going to become a mother.

_Zaerix! I don't give a damn about her attachments. That child is not hers, that child is mine! Of course you can give her to the men, that's one less loose end I have to deal with. Speaking of loose ends, have you or Dhac'kadrak found the child's father? What names does she want to give the child? I will not accept some undercity Arcadian name. _

_Leader of The Tenth Street Red's_

In short order he had received the brief reply:

_Dear Helori Kavan, _

_No we have not found out who the father is. How many times do I have to tell you, not even she knows. Which is fairly disgusting, if you're asking my opinion. Jane Shepard, she wants to name her daughter Jane Shepard. And if you want to be present for the birth, get down here. I know it's three week early, but she's going into labor. _

_Enorth Zaerix_

"Alright, you need to push." Zaerix told the young mother as another contraction hit her. "I can see its head. Just a little more, you can do it."

With one final cry, the emaciated mother to be gave one last push and the cries of an infant were heard.

"Can I… can I 'old 'er?" Cecila reached out to where she heard her baby.

Zaerix looked to Kavan. The leader of the Tenth Street Red's shrugged, it wasn't like she was going to last long anyway.

The Salarian gently placed the new born into the dying mother's arms.

"'ello, lidle one. I'm ya mama." Cecila gently place a kiss to her beautiful little girl's forehead. "My lidle Jane Shepard, ya gonna grow up big an' ain't nobody gonna 'urt you."

"Alright, that's enough!" Kavan snapped.

As Zaerix moved to take Shepard from her mother, Cecila attempted to shriek, but her voice was too damaged to make a sound more than a whisper. "No! She's my baby girl an' ya aint gonna take 'er."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter." Kavan smirked. "You see the matter is already decided. That child is not yours. Zaerix, take it."

"Over… over me dead body!" Cecila barely got out, tears streaming down her face.

"I think that can be arranged." Kavan coolly stated as he pulled a Brawler hand pistol and fired.

Cecila's head hit the wall with a resounding 'thunk', as blood trickled down her face from the new hole in her forehead.

"You can continue the experiments with Shepard." Kavan declared as he swept out of the room.

The Salarian gently picked up orphan. She was a pretty thing, with dark, red hair; vibrant, green eyes; and a smattering of freckles across her pale checks. "You poor little thing. It's time to start the experiments."

A/N: Alright my peeps, here's what a day a no studying brings you. Hope you enjoy this story.


	2. The Experiment

A/N: Trigger Warning! Abuse in this chapter!

* * *

><p>Jane Shepard grew up surrounded by needles and metal cages.<p>

At four years old Jane had learned that you listen or you are hurt very badly, you get a question or a word right or you would be hurt very badly. Right now she was huddled in the corner of her cage, waiting for one of the men to pull her out to begin her lessons or experiments.

"Come 'ere you lidle wench!" One of the humans yelled as he banged the door to her cage open.

Jane slowly crawled out of the cage and stood bare foot on the cold cinderblock floor. "Where to first, sir?"

"Ach! 'ell if I know!" the human snapped and smacked her across the back of the head. "Get movin' ya lidle runt!"

Jane scrunched up her face, tilted her head, and glared up and the man. Oh, how she hated the humans, Salarian and Batarian. As soon as she was big enough she was going to kill them all and find some nice mommy and daddy to take care of her.

The human led her into the classroom, what Jane called the information center. She called it such, because anything that was taught to her in there she was expected to recall on a moment's notice. Whether that was languages, mathematics, history, or literature of any species; it didn't matter, she was expected to remember.

"Zaerix wants tuh see ya." The human sneered.

"And when doesn't he!?" Shepard quipped, before opening the door and slamming it in the irate human's face.

"There is our little Shepard." The Salarian smiled. "I decided to mix it up today. First you are going to be in here. Then you are going to go to training with Dhac'kadrak. And finally you are going to come down to the lab."

Zaerix waited for an answer, Shepard just gave him a blank stare.

"Right, then, where were we? Ah yes, we were studying the Turians…"

After eight hours locked in a room with the crazy Salarian, a different human came to pick Jane up and escort her to the training room - which she had fondly nicknamed Hell.

"Why weren't you here earlier?" Dhac'kadrak snapped as soon as Jane entered the room.

Jane rolled her eyes, did these people ever communicate. "Enorth switched up my schedule, or did he not tell you?"

"Silence!" The Batarian roared. "You are not here to speak. You are here to learn to fight and use weapons!"

"Does that include my biotic abilities?" Jane batted her eyelashes and looked up innocently at the fuming alien.

The smack across the face that Dhac'kadrak landed sent Shepard flying across the room. "I am not paid to listen to you! I am paid to get you ready for battle! Are we clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" Jane spat, disgust clear on her face.

"Good. Now we will start with the Lancer assault rifle…"

After eight hours of shooting, being shot at, and physical exercise, Jane was ready for bed. But she to endure Zaerix pocking, prodding, and injecting her before she could get her four hours of sleep.

"How was your training?" Zaerix asked as Jane levitated herself onto the table.

Jane sat up straight, no matter how much she wanted to slouch. "I'm tired and I'm hungry."

"Well, once I'm finished with these tests you can go eat some of the wonderful cuisine I have fixed for you."

The human child made a face. _Yes, like the experiment food is any good. I bet it has stuff in it like the stuff you inject into my arm._

"Shepard, I need you to go stand in that chamber over there." The Salarian pointed to an area of the lab that was filled with different kinds of chambers.

"Sure, I'll go stand in a chamber. But which one do you want me to stand in." Jane smirked. "I mean there is the Element Zero chamber, the extreme heat chamber, the extreme cold chamber. Oh! Are you going to put me in the chamber that put those little nanites in my body to prevent any control chips from working?"

The Salarian sighed and rubbed the area above his eyes, "No, I want you to go into the oxygen deprivation chamber."

Shepard sighed; she didn't know what these tests proved. All she knew was that if she didn't do them she was punished and the lacerations on her back were still healing from the last time she disobeyed. She didn't want to reopen them; it was bad enough they reopened every time she went to the training room.

This routine went on until Shepard was about eight, when the Salarian decided to test her tolerance to pain.

"Why are we doing this again?" Dhac'kadrak asked when Zaerix told the Batarian his plan. "If she dies, we are both dead and not getting paid."

"Do not worry. We are not going to kill her. Got plenty of adrenaline on hand in case her heart stops." Zaerix said as he hurried to Shepard's cage.

Dhac'kadrak banged on the door before he yanked it open. "Get your ass up! Time to start your new training!"

Jane quickly scrambled out of the cage and stood up straight. "Yes, sir!"

"Always so eager to please." The Batarian smacked her across the face.

Jane frowned; she didn't know what she did wrong.

"Follow us." Zaerix commanded, "Your new training is in a new room."

Shepard was afraid to speak up; afraid she would get hit again.

As soon as the three of them entered the room Dhac'kadrak smacked the back of her head. "Strip!'

It was a common occurrence for the Salarian or the Batarian to order her to strip, but only when the human males weren't nearby.

"Leave you underclothes on. And lay face down on this table." Zaerix commanded.

Shepard followed the orders without question.

"This is a test." The Salarian to her. "Your job is to keep quiet and not to scream. Restrain her."

Dhac'kadrak buckled the quarter inch leather straps around her wrists and ankles. The straps were bucked so tight they almost cut off circulation to her extremities.

Zaerix pulled the whip off the wall brought it across the back of Jane's calves, the pain was almost minimal. She was used to the whip. "Subject does not respond to the whip. Continuing on."

Next the Salarian grabbed a riding crop and struck the back of Shepard's calves again, this time she flinched. "Subject flinched when using the riding crop. Continuing on."

The Batarian narrowed his eyes. "Why are you only using her calves, why not her back?"

"That is for later, my friend." The Salarian eyed the tools at his disposal. When he spied the six inch long hunting knife, he smiled. "This should do it."

Zaerix brought the tip of the knife to Shepard's shoulder blade and sliced diagonally across it. Jane hissed. "Subject hissed. Seems to respond to knife."

Zaerix continued slicing up her back, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason. Some cutes were deeper and longer than others, but none were life threatening. By the time he was finished, Shepard was sobbing and her entire back was going to have scars the crisscross each other. "Subject reacts well to multiple cuts. Subject is sobbing. Continuing on."

The Salarian eyed the wall, looking for just the right tool. He smirked when he saw it. Lifting it up reverently, he approached the sobbing girl. Right as he turned it on, he jabbed it into Shepard's side.

Jane screamed, the pain coursing through her body was intense. She lifted off the table, trying to get away. But the restraints held fast. In fact, the bindings cut into her wrists and ankles but she didn't even register the pain.

Zaerix removed the electrical probe and to quickly stab her somewhere else.

Jane screamed again, "No please! I was a good girl! I was a good girl! I did what you said! Ahhhhh! Please! Please stop! It hurts! It hurts!"

The Salarian finally relented and Jane gasped for air. She didn't register the tears streaming down her face, nor Zaerix speaking. "Subject peaks out at the electric probe. Subject asked us to stop. Release her."

Dhac'kadrak undid Shepard's bindings.

"Shepard, get up!" Zaerix snapped.

Jane slowly lifted herself into a kneeling position and then slid onto the floor.

"What did I tell you at the start of this test?"

Jane looked him right in the eye. "That I was to keep quite."

"And did you?" Zaerix smirked.

"No, as you knew I would not." Jane stated unflinchingly.

The Salarian inclined his head, "Perhaps, but now you still have your training and lessons to attend. Follow Dhac'kadrak."

Shepard glared at the maroon alien as she was lead out of the room.

_From the desk of Enorth Zaerix:_

_Dear Helori Kavan,_

_Subject has reached ten years of age. There appears to be nothing left to teach her. Attached to this message is all her files. Let me and Kacress Dhac'kadrak know when you plan on the attack and we will leave. Subject is surprisingly strong willed, it will not take much to make her you heir. Just teach her not to let people walk all over her. And that standing up to people in authority is a good thing. _

_Your Faithful Servant,_

_Enorth Zaerix_

Kavan smirked when he read the message. There was no way he was going to let those two aliens get away. They were loose ends and needed to be dealt with. Kavan activated his omni tool. "Cador! Come see me and bring Gaven. We have a package to pick up."


	3. The Escape

Cador and Gavin ducked behind a wall at gun fire came from the hallway they were trying to go through.

"Damn, these men are tough!" Cador exclaimed as he peered around the wall and fired off a few shots.

"What do you expect?" Gavin chuckled, before he threw a combustion grenade toward the mercs. "Kavan needed to make sure his investment was safe."

Cador stuck his head out. "All clear." As they proceeded down the corridor, the second in command asked. "Do you think the Salarian and Batarian made it out?"

"No, if they realized out betrayal, they will be with the package." Gaven kept his gun up as he swept the hallway.

"That's just great! First we have to fight through all these mercs and then we are going to have to fight those two. Aw, hell! Could this day get any worse?" Cador asked.

Gavin glared at the smaller man. "Those are not the words you should say on a sensitive mission, like this one."

As they rounded one last corner, they were met by a locked door. "Well, aren't you going to open it?" Cador asked.

"It's a durasteel door. No I'm not going to open it! You break the code." The head enforcer smacked his friend on the back of the head.

"Fine, fine. I'll open the door." Cador approached the door and placed his omni tool over the lock. "Hey! Would you look at that! It responds to my door codes!"

As the door slide open with a hiss, both men shouldered their assault rifles and panned the room. There, in the middle of the room stood the Batarian and Salarian. They seemed to be arguing.

"They are not our boss' men!" Zaerix insisted. "He promised we would warn us."

Dhac'kadrak growled, "We are loose ends. And our boss doesn't like loose ends."

The humans crouched behind some crates that littered the floor. Gavin pointed to himself and then to the Batarian. Cador then pointed to himself and the Salarian. Gavin nodded. While the two aliens were busy arguing, the two humans lined up their shots.

The two gang members leaned out of cover and fired at the two aliens. The Batarian and Salarian fell to the floor in a hail of bullets.

The head enforcer walked over to where they fell and fired this gun twice, hitting the already dead aliens in the head.

"I think they were dead before." Cador commented as he started looking around the room for the girl.

Gavin shrugged, "You can never be too careful."

While the two men swept the room, Shepard stayed huddled at her back of her cage. She heard what the men had said; she knew that Zaerix and Dhac'kadrak were dead. Hopefully these men would find what they were looking for and leave; then she could find a nice family with a mommy and daddy.

"What do we have here?" Cador asked as he knelt in front of Shepard's cage. "Gavin, come here. Look what I found."

Jane tried to make herself as small as possible as Cador opened the door.

"It wasn't even locked." Gavin frowned, "Do you think she knew?"

"Come on." Cador gestured, "You need to get out of this cage."

Jane, so used to following orders, didn't think twice as she crawled out of the cage and stood before the two men.

"What's you name little one?" Cador asked.

"Shepard, sir, Jane Shepard." Jane stood at attention.

"Well then, Jane, why don't we get you out of here?" Cador smiled at the small ten year old.

Jane frowned, "I'm not supposed to leave the lab."

"Did those two men tell you that?" Gavin pointed to where Zaerix and Dhac'kadrak lay slain.

Jane nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Then you don't have to obey that order." Gavin shrugged.

"Really!" Jane exclaimed, her face lighting up. "I don't have to go through any more tests?"

Both men frowned. "Tests?" Cador asked. They knew that she had been experimented on as a baby; they didn't know how long it had gone on.

Gavin smacked Cador on the back of the head and growled. "You can ask the girl questions when we get back to base."

Cador stood up to his full height. He was 6'2" and it would have been impressive; except that Gavin was quite a bit taller and weighed about twice as much as Cador. "I am your superior, you will show me respect."

Gavin chuckled, "Since when have I done that?" He then bent down and picked up the small human. "I'll carry her back to base, you take point."

Cador nodded. While he may be the Red's second in command, he listened to the head enforcer during fights.

Jane clung to Gavin as he sprinted through what had been her home for the past ten years. Everywhere she looked she saw death. Bodies of men that she knew were torn to pieces and she didn't even bat an eye. They had hurt her and she felt nothing for their deaths. Love was a foreign concept to Shepard.

"You should close your eyes little one." Gavin spoke quietly when he saw that the girl had her eyes open and was taking in the carnage.

Jane cocked her head. "Why?"

"This isn't the kind of thing a child needs to see." Gavin said as he slowed down and waited for Cador to give the all clear, before moving on.

"It's fine." Jane shrugged; she had seen and done worse. Dhac'kadrak showed her how to torture a man for information and then she had to torture a different man the next day.

The head enforcer frowned, what had these aliens been teaching her? "Still, you should close your eyes."

Jane complied.

After all of the Red's had made it out of the warehouse, it was torched.

"Why did you do that?" Jane asked frowning, while she didn't like the place it was the only home she knew.

Gavin placed her on the ground, "Need to get rid of all the bodies and this is the quickest way. Now we need to hurry, before the fire spreads."

Gavin and Cador grabbed one of Jane's hands. "Where are we going?" the young girl asked.

"We are going to the slums." Cador smiled down at the inquisitive girl.

"That's higher than we are." Shepard informed them. "We are in the undercity right now, the next level is the slums, and above the slums is where the government actually starts caring about its citizens."

"Did those aliens teach you that?" Cador asked.

"No, but from what I've read about Arcadia, that is my hypothesis." Jane shrugged.

The two gang members frowned; she was incredibly bright for a child.

Jane's eyes were wide as she tried to take everything in. This was the first time she had been out of the warehouse. She saw a woman attempting to entice some of the men over to her. "What is she doing?"

"Oh… she's ah… she's ah…" Cador didn't know how to tell this ten-year-old the woman was a whore.

"Tha' bitch ober dere is wha' we men call a painte' whore." Stanley leered at the woman.

Jane scrunched her face up in disgust. Stanley was missing half of his teeth, smelled like cheap bar, and probably weighed as much as she did. "Well, why don't you go and see her then?"

"Ach, she don' like me." Stanley lamented as he scratched his armpit. "I ain't wha' ya call clean."

"No, I would say you're not." Jane agreed as she sped up, trying to get away from the stinky man.

"Where did ya find her?" Stanley asked, "She has spirit. Wha' are ya gonna do wif her?"

"That's for the boss to decide." Cador shrugged.

Stanley scratched his head. "Shouldn' we gif her to her 'rents?"

Both Gavan and Cador gave a long suffering sigh, neither of them liked Stanley.

"I'm sure they would." Jaen smiled sweetly. "But my mother only lived long enough to name me and my father died before I was born."

Gaven and Cador looked at each other. That was certainly one way to put it.

"Ah, so ya an orphan." Stanley smirked. "Why don' ya an' I go an' leaf these two borin' people behin'?"

"I think I'll stay with them." Shepard grasped Gaven's hand. She knew Stanley's type; they were the men that she was allowed to practice on. "Why don' ya go fin' a reg'lar whore, sin' tha' one don' like ya."

Pouting, Stanley slunk off; he would find someone else to bother.

"What was that?" Cador asked.

Jane shrugged, "The humans who helped Zaerix and Dhac'kadrak spoke Low Terran, so I learned it."

Neither gang member knew what to make of that.

As her two rescuers led Jane from the undercity and through the slums, the young girl couldn't help but notice the slight differences between the two regions. The undercity was slightly dirtier and the buildings were literally falling apart, while the slums were dirty and the buildings were in shambles.

"Where are we going?" Jane asked as they passed yet another prostitute who tried to entice the males.

"To the base." Gavin shrugged.

Jane frowned, were these men going to take her to be experimented on some more? "What base?"

"The Tenth Street Red's base of operations." Cador smiled. "We are part of the Red's and since you have no family, our boss may be interested in you joining our gang."

"And what if I don't want to?" Jane asked, crossing her arms. "What if I want a mommy and daddy?"

Cador gave her a sympathetic look. "Kids without parents from the undercity and slums live in orphanages. The orphanages don't have enough money to keep all the kids, so girls sell themselves and boys join gangs."

Shepard frowned. "That isn't right."

"No, it's not." Gavin patted her on the head. "Here we are. Cador open the door."

"Why do I always have to open the door?" the second in command complained.

Gavin chuckled, "Because I shoot things and you talk to people."

Jane furrowed her brow. "That doesn't make sense."

Cador ruffled her hair, "It's not supposed to. Come we need to go to the top."

"What's at the top?" Jane asked. Her curiosity surprised the men, they knew some of what she had gone through and didn't expect her to be so curious. What they didn't know, was that the Batarian and Salarian expected her to be curious and rewarded her when she was.

"Our boss." Gavin shrugged, "He'll want to see you."

"And we need to tell him that we were given false information." Cador lied. "There wasn't a stash of heroin and guns in that warehouse."

After they had climbed up the stairs for six stories, the building didn't have an elevator, Gavin rapped three times on a durasteel door.

"Enter." Kavan said as the door opened. He looked at the red hair girl standing between his two men. "What do we have here?"

"Well, we didn't find any guns or heroin at the warehouse." Cador shrugged, "Just a bunch of mercs, a Salarian, a Batarian, and her."

Kavan placed his elbows on the desk and leaned on them. "And who are you?"

"Shepard, sir, Jane Shepard." Jane swallowed nervously.

"Really? And who are your parents?" the leader of the Tenth Street Red's wanted to know what the two aliens had told her.

"My mother was able to name me, but then she died. And my father died before I was born." Jane smiled up at the Latino.

"You speak very well for someone raised in the undercity." Kavan commented.

Jane grinned, "Yes, sir! Zaerix and Dhac'kadrak made sure I could speak High Terran and Zaerix made sure I could speak all alien languages and most dialects!"

"Interesting." Kavan stroked his chin. "Tell me, what else did they teach you."

"Mathematics, history of all the races, literature; I can appreciate the works of Shakespeare as well as the Asari poet Lakhesis." Shepard beamed up at the man behind the desk.

"Really?" Kavan raised his eyebrows. "So a Salarian and a Batarian made you smart?"

"Not just smart. I'm a powerful biotic. I can field strip a Tsunami assault rifle in under eight minutes, I know about one hundred ways to kill a man with just my hands, I am capable with attacking with a knife, give me any gun and I can use it, and my hand-to-hand combat is superb." It may have sounded like Jane was boasting; but she wasn't, she was merely stating the facts.

"I'm impressed." Kavan steepled his fingers under his chin. "Boys why don't you get our newest member settled. I would like you to come to my office every morning and we will start you lessons on how to be a gang leader."

Jane followed the two subordinates out of the room. She was looking forward to tomorrow; hopefully it wouldn't involve needles or knives in her back.

After the three humans had left his office, Kavan allowed a grin to appear on his face. Those aliens had done more than he had hoped. Of course, now he had to give Shepard a backbone, but it appeared that it wouldn't be too hard. She was incredibly curious; maybe he would tap into her innate curiosity and use that to his advantage.


End file.
